Working together, the new Emergency Room and the 20 new Inpatient Rooms ease congestion and provide better care for patients and families.

The new Emergency department with sixteen private rooms, streamlined check-in, and a variety of efficiencies all contribute to patient care, explains Lori Allen, nurse director of emergency services.

The new Emergency area is about twice the size of the old and quadruples the space for evaluating and caring for patients from the time they arrive whether it is by ambulance or by their own car.

The rooms themselves are spacious, so medical equipment, doctors and nurses, and family members all have enough space. The private rooms also have benefits for privacy, rest, and infection control. All in all, it is state of the art, best practices design.

Upstairs in the inpatient unit, one gets the same feeling of well thought out design that fits seamlessly to be most inviting to the patient and family. Having an additional 18 private rooms in the hospital also relieves congestion whether patients are coming through the ED or from home, they can be admitted quicker. In the Emergency department, that relates directly to having more room for arriving emergencies.

Along with these areas, there is a new, spacious rehabilitation room in the new Medical Surgical South [inpatient unit], a large family waiting room offers privacy, and many other features make the department work better for the clinicians who serve our patients.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD: A bigger, better ER for the midcoast Only eight years old, Mid Coast Hospital doubles its emergency department to meet growing needs.Front Page of the state section.http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/elink/?284999

WBLZ TV2 (Bangor): Mid Coast Hospital ExpansionAired on 6 p.m. News and at 11:10 p.m.Intro: Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick has expanded. And the centerpiece is a brand new emergency department. The hospital opened just 8 years ago but the old emergency department was quickly overwhelmed because more and more patients needed to make longer stays. The new expansion not only gives emergency room patients private rooms but it greatly expands the number of rooms available for inpatients. Before, there weren't enough inpatient beds, so emergency department beds were often used too long.Not available on line.

LEWISTON SUN JOURNAL: Mid Coast Hospital Emergency Room OpensStory on the Business Section is taken from Bob Keyes article in Press Herald with a different photo. Not available on line.